O'LEARY

[1]Arms: Ar. a lion pass. in base gu. in chief a ship of three masts sa. sails set ppr. from the stern the flag of St. George flotant. Crest: Out of a ducal coronet or. an arm in armour embowed, holding a sword ppr. pommel and hilt gold. Motto: (Irish) Laidirise lear Righ. Another Motto: Fortis undis et armis.

Laoghaire, a brother of Brian who is No. 90 on the "O'Connell" pedigree, was the ancestor of O'Laoghaire,[2] of the Line of Heber; anglicised O'Leary, Leary, and O'Learie.

[1]O'Leary: Arthur O'Leary, D.D., a prominent politican and writer, was born in 1729, at Acres, near Dunmanway, co. Cork. He was educated at St. Malo, in France, where he spent twenty-four years as prison chaplain......"Although it was known," says Webb, "that Dr. O'Leary was in the receipt of a Government pension during the latter part of his life, and that this was conferred partly to restrain him from writing against the Union (it is believed that he declined the favour), it was never suspected until lately that he was in receipt of Government pay as early as 1784." In 1789 Dr. O'Leary left Ireland for ever, and took up his residence in London as one of the chaplains to the Spanish embassy. There, as in Ireland, his society was courted by leading politicians of liberal views—by Burke and Sheridan, by Fox and Fitzwilliam. Towards the close of 1801, his health began to decline, and after residing a short time in France, he returned to England, broken down in health and spirits, and died in London on 7th January, 1802, aged 72. He was burried in old St. Pancras churchyard, where a monument was erected to his memory by his friend Lord Moira.

[2]O'Laoghaire: Some genealogists derive this sirname from the Irish "laogh," a calf, and "gair," an outcry (Gr. "gar-uo"); others, from the Irish "leath," a half, and "gair," a laugh; and others, from "lear," the sea, and "righ," a king, meaning, "King of the sea."

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